The Gospel Is Good News

Answers Bible Curriculum Second Edition Unit 1 Lesson 9

This week in Sunday school, we look at the central message of the Bible that men must believe in order to be saved. Though there are different ways of explaining the Bible’s “good news” or “gospel”, we’re going to explain this message by outlining the main events of the Bible in what Answers in Genesis calls “The Seven Cs of History.” We’ll finish by considering what elements must be present in any gospel presentation and what kind of deviations represent a different and false gospel.

For this lesson, we’ll be looking at various Bible verses and so will not feature a main text.

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well good morning and welcome back to Sunday School tile of our lesson today is the gospel is good news we are talking about the gospel what is what is the main message of the Bible and what is the life-giving news of the Bible now we’re gonna do something a little special today we’re gonna multitask they say humans have a hard time multitasking we’re gonna attempt some multitasking because we want to accomplish a number of goals at the same time with today’s lesson but these on the slide here we want to first of all summarize the flow of human history using the Bible we’re going to articulate the message that all men need to believe in order to be saved and we’re going to begin to show how all how the whole Bible is about Jesus Christ and this is all going to tie together as we discuss this subject of the gospel now I’m confident that we can complete these goals these goals but I do need you to stay on your toes today with we have a lot to talk about I have a lot I would like to share with you so please give me your utmost attention as we look at this most critical aspect of the Christian faith what is the gospel and why is it good news we’re going to walk through an explanation of that now let’s pray before we continue our Lord and God I pray that you’d make this time profitable that it would be a time where those who are saved can revel in your gospel those who are not saved would be exposed to the gospel so that they would believe it and God that you’d also equip your people to be able to to declare the gospel more accurately more hopefully more sufficiently Richard be so gracious as to build up your people now in Jesus name Amen all right well when we ask the question what is the gospel we can answer that question in a very expansive way or in a very simple and basic way in terms of giving the gospel to somebody declaring the gospel to somebody that can look a little different based on how much that person already knows and where you are in your relationship or conversation with them someone has a back in the Bible the gospel can be reduced to one or two sentences for example in 1st Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 5 we see the gospel in brief listen as I read these five verses there there on the screen for you first Corinthians 15 1 to 5 now I make known to you brethren the gospel which I preached to you which also you received in which also you stand by which also you are saved if you hold fast the word of which I preached you unless you believed in vain for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas then to the twelve now I’m going to stop our reading there if you are if you look at the passage you’ll know that there is a little bit more about Christ other appearances in the preceding verses but these five verses will do for our for our purposes right now they’re just the four pieces of information that Paul gives concerning the gospel in these verses Paul declares Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures Christ is buried Christ was raised according to the scriptures on the third day and Christ appeared to his brethren these are perhaps the most basic gospel elements and they all appear in one sentence at least in the English version but with this one sentence be a sufficient gospel declaration and explanation for your average co-worker or classmate probably not and why not what do you think they’re not familiar with the scriptures and because they don’t know the scriptures these words don’t have the proper context for them they may not understand why what you’re saying matters to that because they don’t think of themselves as sinners maybe they don’t even know what sin is maybe they not don’t even believe that the Bible is true so when you say according to the scriptures and it’s no significance today you’re gonna have to give more context you’re gonna have to explain more the terms that are related or the terms that appear even in this biblical sentence as I say in this in these verses we see the phrase according to the scriptures a person needs to be aware of the scriptural context of this summary statement to see why the gospel is so important to them by the way the Greek word for gospel you may know is you want Gallion from which we get the word evangelism and evangelical you want Gallion literally means good news or good message the gospel is the good news but why is the good news of the gospel good we wouldn’t tell people we’ve got some good news but why is it good well let me ask you what makes it so good I mean it sounds pretty positive all by itself but the real reason why the good news are good is because there already is some bad news that’s what makes the good news so good it’s because there’s some bad news that it overturns and this is this is a critical point for our appreciation of and declaration of the gospel before one can understand and welcome the good news of salvation he must see the peril that he is in before God for the good news to be truly good someone has to understand the bad news first in other words a person needs the context as I as we’ve been saying needs to context the rest of the Bible to appreciate what Jesus has done you cannot simply share first Corinthians 15 three to five or even John 3:16 with someone probably because they don’t have this context I mean you should share those verses but you’re going to have to do a little bit more explanation than that on average so what other explanation do you need to do what else exactly does a person need to know beyond this summary statement here in 1st Corinthians 15 well there are a number of evangelistic methods divine designed to communicate the bad news and the good news but one method again this is not the only method one simple and logical method that we can use is to basically walk somebody through the chronology of the Bible walk somebody through what are the main events that happen in the Bible and so for our for our class we’re going to talk about using the seven C’s of history has an outline for sharing the gospel what are the seven C’s of history you might be asking well no it has nothing to do with oceans or being a pirate this is a chronological outline of the most major events of the Bible all alliterated with the letter C this is something Answers in Genesis has come up with of course it’s not inspired but it’s a useful template we can use the Bible’s own chronological outline has a simple way to present the gospel and that’s what I want to do with you that’s why I say we’re multitasking today we’re gonna walk through the seventies of history with an eye to the bad news and the good news of the gospel so let’s begin we start with our first C creation our first C is creation turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1 we’re gonna be flipping to a number of passages today so get those fingers limbered up Genesis 1 verses 31 to 2 chapter 2 verse 4 we won’t be doing the kind of analysis that we usually do in each one of these passages but I want to read them to you as they have to do with each one of these chronological points in history so that the first is creation and we’ll start reading in Genesis 1 starting in verse 31 God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day thus the heavens and the earth were completed and all their hosts by the seventh day God completed his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made this is the accounts of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that Yahweh God made earth in heaven so to explain these verses God is the creator and he created a perfect universe without sin corruption suffering or death the first humans Adam and Eve they lived in unpolluted harmonious relationship with God and with each other these humans were Karen given jurisdiction over the earth to rule it to cultivate it and to multiply upon it but they received one prohibition they could not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil now why why was the fruit forbidden well we’re not told exactly as the Creator God has the right to set the rules his creation should follow and we know from the rest of Scripture that God’s rules God’s laws they’re all good there’s nothing arbitrary about them so this prohibition in the garden was good as well in some way one way to think about why why it was good one way of understanding you is that God gave Adam and Eve an opportunity to enjoy him honor him glorify Him by obeying this simple command Adam and Eve could not only enjoy God by ruling and cultivating the earth just as he commanded but also by not eating the fruit of this one tree in the same way God’s all of God’s commands are given to us Adam and Eve’s descendants for our good and for our happiness but we like our forefather Adam choose so frequently to forego the joy of obedience to God and exchange it for a pleasure that is far inferior and this brings us to our second C the first C is creation the second C is corruption and here we’re just going a little bit further in Genesis Genesis 3 verses 6 to 7 and then 21 to 23 so Genesis 3 verse 6 when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and then it was a delight to the eyes that the tree was desirable to make one wise she took from its fruit and ate she gave also to her husband with her and he ate and the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings Yahweh God made garments of skin hurt skipping down a bit Yahweh God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them then Yahweh God said Behold the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil and now he might stretch out his hand it take officers in the tree of life and eat and live forever therefore y’all way God sent him out from the Garden of Eden the Coulter grape cultivate the ground from which he was taken before I say more about these verses specifically there’s some commentary in the new spent about this event you don’t have to turn there but listen to Romans 5:12 and also verses 18 to 19 Romans 5:12 verse 18 and verses 18 and 19 paul writes therefore justice through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all see so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men harass through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners even so did the obedience of the one that many will be made righteous so what’s going on here in Genesis 3 when Adam ate the fruit Adam and Eve but chiefly Adam his rebellion brought sin into the world and corrupted all of God’s very good creation since Adam was the first human the representative of all humans all his descendants became sinners rebels against God and so as a result all people including you and me all people became spiritually dead and subject to physical death as well now in Genesis 3 immediately after sinning we see Adam and Eve trying to make coverings for themselves and says they sow leaves together but God who ever determined that these coverings would not do for them I mean just imagine trying to walk around and leaves for clothing this is not gonna last very long I’m not gonna do very much for you and who knows that just how how well put together these these fig leaves actually actually were so God observing this he makes clothes for Adam and Eve for them from animal skins now though it’s not stated explicitly in the Bible God most likely killed an animal to make these clothes now you could say no I didn’t say he killed an animal yeah that’s true but it would seem weird that he just creates an animal skin he could have done that but probably an animal was killed for these skins this then would be the first death in the Bible an animal was killed to provide for Damini and here begins two principles that we see throughout the rest of the Bible the first is sin needs covering this principle is symbolized by the nakedness to Adam and Eve feel and we see this concept of nakedness and the need for covering going forward in the scriptures Marius Old Testament passages discuss God covering Israel’s nakedness or during times of judgment God will speak of exposing the nakedness of various wicked peoples various nations and in Revelation chapter 3 when Christ is speaking to the church at Laodicea he urges them to accept clothing from their clothing from him to clothe their nakedness now these passages do not speak of literal nakedness usually but the shame and ugliness of one sin again nakedness and the self is not evil but it is it is used as a symbol sometimes in the Bible for the shame that comes with sin and there is a connection that when we talk through the Genesis passages later when we go through creation in the fall we’ll talk more about but this is a symbol as descendants of Adam we need to have the shame of our sin covered and covered over by the right clothing only God can provide that that’s what we see in in a small form in Genesis chapter 3 but we see the same thing as we go through the rest of ival if we try to cover ourselves will be just as insufficiently clothed as Adam and Eve with their fig leaves but by what means does God provide us this spiritual clothing that’s our second principle and this is again gonna be seen in the rest of the Bible sacrifice is needed to cover one sins it apparently took the death of an animal to provide the coverings for Adam and Eve after the fall during the Passover many times the law of Moses we again see an innocent and unblemished animal was required to stay God’s judgment against man and sin yet these sacrifices never end the people continually sin in the Old Testament the priests continually have to offer sacrifices there’s a need for an end to this a completion a a once for all sacrifice to cover and remove all the sins of all of God’s people but people need is a once for all Savior now someone might ask before we go on to the next C why did God let man fall into sin why did God why didn’t God stop it if he’s so loving well again part of the answer is God is the king God’s the creator he has the right to do as he pleases and whatever he does he’s told us is good and just but part of what God has revealed to us in the scriptures is that Redemption was always God’s plan it it’s not as if Adam and Eve fell and God said oh how could they I just didn’t know that this would happen what do I do now no first Peter 1:20 says that Christ was for known as Redeemer since before the world was created God had always determined that the fall would occur and that God would redeem those he chose from the race of Adam to be saved God had always determined to display his glory through his special work of redemption therefore the fall like all tragedies or evil happenings in the world was actually is actually used for good we don’t have a time now for a full discussion of the problem of evil but this is part of the answer God knows what he’s doing and what he’s done is always for ultimate good and that has to do with God displaying his own glory but God doesn’t just display his glory in Redemption he also displays his glory and anger and judgment against sin and this is also what we see in the next scene catastrophe our third series catastrophe we’ve got creation got corruption and now catastrophe for this go to Genesis 6 this is 6 verses 5 to 8 and then Genesis 8 verses 15 to 7 just 8 1 and 15 17 but first Genesis 6:5 then the Lord that is Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually yeah I was sorry that he had made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart he always said I will blot out man who I’m created from the face of the land from and animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky where I’m sorry that I have made them but Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh going to chapter 8 now chapter 8 verse 1 but God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark and God caused a wind to pass over the earth and the water subsided and now verse 15 that great verse 15 then God spoke to Noah saying go out of the ark you and your wife and your sons and your sons wives with you bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth that they may breed abundantly on the earth and be fruitful and multiply out here all right so what’s this all about and what’s the significance for the gospel well after the sin of Adam and Eve sin and sinners continue to increase on the earth the wickedness became so great that God and his purity and holiness even though he’s still loving a patient he was compelled to judge mankind and destroy all that was on the earth through water the flood then is an example of God’s justice against sin and a picture of God’s future judgment against sin so it was a picture it was an example of judgment in the past and justice and it’s a picture of what is to come because consider what Jesus himself says in Luke chapter 17 Luke 17 verses 26 to 30 I don’t have to turn now I’ll just read this one to you Luke 17:26 230 Jesus says and just as it happened in the days of Noah so it will also so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man they were eating they were drinking they were marrying they were being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all and it was the same has happened in the days of lot they were eating they were drinking they were buying they were selling they were planting they were building but on the day that lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all it’ll be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed as preached by Paul on Mars Hill and acts 17 a day is coming when Jesus will judge the world in righteousness for sinners in the line of Adam who transgressed God’s commands just as Adam Adam did this judgment will not be pretty the shame of our nakedness metaphorically will be revealed to all and exposed before God and this judgment culminates in what the Bible describes as the lake of fire or hell as New Testament tells us hell is a place of continual burning and thirst is a place of continual darkness crying gnashing of teeth a place where one is eaten by worms but never fully consumed it’s a place totally cut off from the kindness of God and filled with the wrath of God and there is no way out of it ever the writer of Hebrews says when commenting on God’s wrath and God’s judgment it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God so he’s seeing example of this judgment and Noah and the flood but why was Noah saved why wasn’t he destroyed with the rest well if we look back through the Genesis account we are told that Noah was righteous and therefore he found favor with the Lord but is this salvation by works did he work his way into God’s favor no the context of our shows that this was not by works but by faith it was his belief in God God chose to extend favor to no on the basis of God’s own kind character and he gave Noah the faith to believe in God we hear this explicitly explaining Hebrews 11:7 Hebrews 11:7 the writer tells us by faith Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith Noah simply believed the promises of God and included in that promise was that God would provide a saving substitute for Noah and really for all men who turned to God in the future now there’s one more piece of bad news before we get to the good news we have one one more seed that fits in the bad news category and that is confusion confusion and this comes in Genesis 11 verses 1 to 9 let’s look at that one Genesis 11 starting at verse 1 now the whole earth used the same language in the same words it came about as they journeyed East they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there they said to one another come I just make bricks and burn them thoroughly and they used brick for stone and they used car from water they said come let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven and let us make for ourselves a name otherwise we’ll be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth Yahweh came down to see the city and the towers the sons of men had built Yahweh said behold they are one people and they have all the same language and this is what they began to do and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them come let us go down and there confuse their language so they will not understand one another’s speech so you always scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building the city there for its name was called Babel because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth and from there you’re always scattered them abroad over the face of the earth what is the significance of this event for the gospel well first of all know how thoroughly sinful man actually is you’d think that after God destroyed nearly all of humanity with the flood that mankind would have learned to honor God and not repel but only a couple of generations after no we have man refusing to scatter through the earth and erecting a city and a tower to their own greatness just how wicked and foolish is the art of man Babel is an utter room or is a reminder of the utter depravity of man’s heart the flood did not change man God confuses man’s language at Babel to prevent mankind from continuing and unified rebellion from God it was a judgment but also a mercy people did scatter and began to diversify in some ways however as we read on in the scriptures we see that each people group still has the fundamental problem of sin as a matter if you’re a Philistine an American a Viking or a Jew you all have the same problem and you all need the same Savior what’s worse because of man’s rebellion at Babel and because of God’s judgment hatred and distrust are now manifest between whole people groups today all over the world even in our country which we would like to think of as enlightened or more enlightened when it comes to individual relationships and relationships between people groups we’re still a land with lurking prejudices and racism however other parts of the world are even more open in their hatred of other people groups with mob violence and Wars and genocide but these things appear here as well and that all points back to these different elements of the bad news man has become a sinner and now he continually sins so with these first four seas we have the bad news so let’s recap it in a way that is a brief pronunciation of the Gospels we have creation God as creator created man and a very good creation chairman good laws for man to follow and man as God’s created creature as every reason to obey and worship his good God but corruption Adam rebelled against God’s laws he brought futility and suffering into the world and worse spiritual and school deaths walnut including you and I because of Adam every person is born a rebel against God and it continually transgresses God’s good laws they have a sinful heart and a sinful record but there’s even worse news because of catastrophe because of man’s wickedness God had to destroy all men with a flood to repay them for their sin and God will judge all people in a similar way in the future again including you and I and then confusion because of man’s rebellion at Babel that relationships between people groups has been permanently altered but all the diverse people groups of the world had the same sin and judgment problem their inability to trust and live at peace with one another is just another symptom of man’s unhealed but totally corrupted wicked heart this is the bad news this is an articulation of the bad news that people need to understand in order to be saved they need to see just how much they and all mankind is left in a sorry state and we can add more from the Scriptures to emphasize these points as the Bible unfolds we see the law of Moses we hear more of the commands of God we see more the character of God our situation only gets worse in the law in the Old Testament we are forbid from lying we are forbid from committing adultery not just in the Old Testament the New Testament community adultery in our hearts from murdering others in our hearts from covetousness from all other forms of idolatry and what person keeps these commands well person can say that he’s never lied or that he never hated another person he’s done what God has called him to do these are good laws they are right they are righteous but we don’t keep them indeed well we’re trying to show people the bad news we ought to bring up the law of God show them that my friend you do not meet God’s standard why do you think you’re gonna get into heaven because you’re good because you’re more good than bad do you know the standard that God actually reveals in the Bible do you know his commands you don’t keep those commands not to do why the standard that comes from God is God’s own righteous nature and it is perfection breaking one of those Commandments counts as breaking the whole law as James says in James 2:10 and all of man’s righteous deeds are filthy rags before God isaiah 64:6 you can’t work your way back into God’s favorite rather you’re even trying to work your way back into God’s favor isn’t offensive the work the news just gets worse and worse without a substitute we are left with only the fearful expectation of God’s hot angry holy judgment but praise God that the news does not end here there is good news and those come with our last three C’s the fifth C in our list using this outline is Christ toxicity is Christ and now we’re going to the New Testament thank you Bob let’s go to John chapter 1 John 1 verses 14 to 17 all right here we go starting verse 14 John writes and the word became flesh dwelt among us we saw his glory glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth John testified about him and cried out saying this was he of whom I said he who comes after me as a higher rank than I for he existed before me Rob his fullness we have all received and grace upon grace the law was given through Moses grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ a savior the Savior that everyone needed sent Old Testament times since Adam and Eve came into the world and indeed there were constant for tellings of his coming into the world throughout the Old Testament if we even think of genesis 3:15 we had the first articulation of this hope in the midst of god’s curses on man and the serpent for the fall we’re here in genesis 3:15 i will put enmity between you woman and between your seed and her seed he should bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel God prophesied to the serpent you will be defeated by one from the line of the woman God had given hope to Adam and even they’re coming seed someone who would gain final victory over the deceiver the one who led them into sin and death and this Savior would be one like Noah who would bring his family safely through the flood of God’s judgment as Peter alludes in 1st Peter 3:20 2:22 this Savior would be the one who gathered into one fold not just the sheep of Israel but also the sheep from other folds other people groups people of every tribe tongue and nation people who could not be brought to peace with one another or with God and now than any other way just as Ephesians 2:14 describes Jesus would be the seed of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed would be the descendant of David who would reign forever in righteousness and he would fulfill all the specific for tellings of the Old Testament prophets as they talked about the one the Messiah who is to come you can see that Jesus was really reversing the things we hear in the bad news as the prophets foretold Jesus would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem which is exactly what happened he came to suffer on behalf of his people to supply the covering that they needed for their nakedness to bear in his body and soul that infinitely on the infinitely um what’s the word I’m looking for I want to say hot anger but I feel like it doesn’t quite describe it that just the unspeakably vast and overwhelming wrath of God he was gonna bear that all in himself Christ came into the world has gone in the flesh he lived a perfect happy obedient life before the Father he succeeded where Adam failed and he acts as a new Adam that those in Christ would have Jesus as their head and representative no longer Adam and therefore be set free from the curse of sin given but this freedom required sacrifice and that’s our sixth see we have Christ and then the cross the cross go over to second Corinthians 5:21 to get a good architecture good articulation of what happened at the cross second Corinthians 5:21 there is fingered a slightly one he that’s God he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him in addition to Jesus’s sinless life Jesus willingly offered himself as a perfect sacrifice on the cross God poured out his infinite wrath normally typify Din hell on the son on his beloved son on the cross only the god man can endure such wrath he had to be made man to be our substitute but he had to be the infinite God to be able to bear the infinite wrath the infinite penalty of sin to completion and understand of course that Jesus’s suffering was more than physical pain it wasn’t just the agony of the nails or the crown of thorns or the beatings it was most of all the inhibiting of the sweet fellowship that the son had always known with the father from all eternity and their receiving in the drinking down of the cup of God’s holy wrath to the dregs all of that anger poured out into the very soul of Christ the Christ completed it he drank the cup of wrath so that there was nothing left and for this reason he was able to say on the cross it is finished before he gave up his spirit and died the son of God Jesus died on the cross but to demonstrate his sacrifice was accepted by the father and that he had conquered sin in death for all who believed in him Jesus rose bodily from the grave on the third day he rose from the grave he then appeared to his disciples he appeared to 500 eyewitnesses even at one time before ascending to heaven and again taking his place at the right hand of the Father so we have Christ we have the cross and this is good news but then there’s one other piece of good news and that’s the seventh see the consummation the fulfilling of all things the coming together and for this we go to Revelation we can’t summarize all the consummation in one verse but we can see part of it in Revelation 21 verses 1 to 8 revelation 21 verses 1 to 8 this is the Apostle John describing the final state after the end of history then you haven’t in the new earth listen to what he says then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first Earth passed away and there’s no longer any sea I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and God Himself will be among them he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death no longer be any mourning or crying or pain the first things have passed away and EU system the throne said behold I am making all things new and he said write for these words are faithful and true and he said to me it is done I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end I will give to the one who thirst from the spring of the water of life without cost he who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son but for the Cowardly and unbelieving in abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all Liars their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death in the consummation Jesus is coming again to judge the world and to rule in righteousness God will fully redeem his creation in the Millennial Kingdom before creating a new heaven and a new earth in which God’s Wells with man eternally those that belong to Christ will be there to enjoy but those who did not belong to God they are instead tormented forever in the lake of fire so summarize the good news with these last three seats to articulate the gospel with these good news we have Christ God sent his son to be the long-awaited substitute for mankind sin the son of God took on humanity and lived a perfectly righteous life but there’s the cross the son men suffered God’s full wrath against sin on the cross he died he was buried but he rose again the third day by conquering sin and death and in this way Jesus paid once and for all for all the sins of those who believed in him and he gave them his perfect righteousness and there is the consummation Jesus will come back someday soon in the future to finally judge the earth to cast into eternal fire those who do not believe in Him and to dwell eternally with those who do believe in him now I keep mentioning believe what does it mean to believe or how does one make the transfer from being an atom to being in Jesus well listen what Jesus said the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel Jesus calls on all men to repent and believe the gospel repent repentance and belief are just two sides of the same coin to repent means you change your mind in such a way that it results in a change of action so when you repent in a saving way you stop believing Satan yourself the flesh whatever scheme or whatever lie that you’ve trusted in and you turn to God giving up your old way so that you can embrace God’s way that’s why we often talk about repentance as being that 180-degree turn that’s what it is but it happens in the mind and then it shows up in the actions to believe is just the positive side of that it is to embrace the good news of the gospel that’s true when you believe you basically those seven there’s things we’ve articulated you say that’s true and I’m gonna live my life in a corner with that you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior you embark on a life of faith in which you would love the Lord you want to know his will and you seek to do it for a person to be saved the Bible says amazingly all he must do is repent and believe this message believe the message about Christ articulated in Bible man doesn’t need to do any works doesn’t need to go through any rituals he doesn’t even have to pray a prayer all he needs to do is repent and believe in Christ stop trusting a lie embrace the truth John 3:16 says you know that verse for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him just believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life now that we have the context of the Scriptures that statement is much more well explained this is why we say salvation is by faith alone just as Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says again you might know this verse for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not as a result of works so that no one may boast so salvation is just by faith and repentance is just a the other side of the coin when it comes to fate but true faith is never alone if you really repent and believe you cannot help but act differently in your life you start to follow Jesus and for this reason James is able to say James 2:17 even so faith if it has no works is dead being by itself what thought salvation is by faith alone oh it is but someone who truly believes in Christ will seek to obey Jesus and therefor he will manifest the fruits of the Spirit as the Spirit comes to indwell him and he will persevere through the suffering that comes with being a Christian again it’s not the works that save you but they are fruit of true salvation Jesus says in Luke 9:23 and this is a very good verse to bring up in a gospel explanation Luke 9:23 and he was saying to them all if anyone wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me but this is it this is the gospel this is the good news good because of how it responds to the bad news God has accomplished for meeting needy man everything that man needed if man will truly believe if any person will truly believe that person will be saved and enjoy eternal life with God forever he will not come under the wrath of God he will no longer be in bondage to his sins but he will know God and all this has accomplished so that God might show himself to be the great and glorious God that he is and that God’s redeemed might enjoy that glory this is the gospel articulated according to the seven seas so what’s the application how should we respond to it or what things can we say in this lesson for those who believe and for those who did not believe well I’ve got a couple of questions to think through first is the seven seas the only way to declare the gospel no of course not I said at the beginning but I want to re-emphasize that this is not the only way that you can explain the Bible’s message but it is one way that you can use there are certain things you’re always gonna have to say in a gospel Proclamation this is useful because if you know the Bible if you know the general outline of the Bible you explain that I mean really the Bible doesn’t fold in a way that shows the bad news and then the good news and so it is a useful way but you might know another way or hear another specific articulation may be using verses in Romans may be specific categories for my apologetics in evangelism class we we memorized a gospel Proclamation method that just focuses on four topics or four questions and really these have to be at any gospel Proclamation who is God who is man who is Jesus and what is man’s necessary response to Jesus you’ve got to adequately explain each of those four elements of the gospel and these are the things that if we look at how the gospel is explained in the scriptures for example if you go to the book of Acts and look at the way that Peter or Paul preached to the Jews and the Gentiles they are explaining these elements remind people who God is that the obligation that man has to God how a man has sinned against God the judgment that is coming on man because of that Jesus as the propitiation for that sin the one who’s going to save man from the sin and God’s wrath but man’s necessary response which is repentance and faith if we explain these elements it doesn’t matter if we use the 7 CS or another another system it’s the content that’s the most important not necessarily the specific outline but again seventy’s is one way that is useful here’s another question and I want to hear your response to this why do Christians want to sometimes want to share the good news without sharing the bad news why do you think yeah I think Don I see you hurt yeah good right so I think I think you hit it they’re just redoing what you said people don’t like to hear bad news they especially don’t like to hear the bad news of the gospel we don’t want to offend them we don’t want their negative response and so we’d rather just say the good news but I think you can see this is this is an unacceptable thing for us to do because it’s only when somebody understands the bad news that they can appreciate the good news if we just say the good news we might get some responses but we won’t see true repentance and faith besides that’s not the example we see in the Bible in Jesus and others are speaking with unbelievers and speaking to them about salvation they confront sin they say listen friend you’ve got understand we are all sinners including you and you are not safe from the wrath of God I love you friend brother sister family member but it’s because I love you I’ve got to tell you this bad news there’s good news I want to tell you the good news but you got understand about us well we’re gonna be you understand we’re gonna be tempted to minimize or get rid of the bad news because that will be more palatable to people but this is how we exhibit trust in God it’s the foolishness of preaching it’s the foolishness of the message preached that’s going to see people saved as the Spirit works in that person’s heart now I mentioned the elements that need to be part of a an adequate explanation of the gospel this doesn’t mean that every time that you’re speaking with somebody about God you have to say every one of those four things I mean sometimes people just some have the time they’re like okay you know we need this conversation another time or maybe you articulate one element and then the next time you get you try and move on to the others but you you do want to hit each one of those points and that has relevance for this next question what constitutes a false gospel we’re warned in the Bible against possible Gospels different Gospels what makes a gospel a message a false one or a bond one I think the answer is actually pretty simple it’s the message substantially deviates on those four topics it was God who is man who is Christ and what is the man’s necessary response and we can see this in some very obvious heresies in our world arianism that would be typify and jehovah’s witnesses it has a different God and a different Christ because Jesus is a created being or Jesus is just some angel that’s not what the Bible says that’s not who Jesus is and so that’s a different gospel Roman Catholicism has the same God it’s the same Christ at least in most respects but it’s a very different response called for there’s supposed to be works and faith in order to save a person that’s a false gospel easy believe ISM that is just pray this prayer just invite Jesus in your heart that’s it don’t even think about anything else doesn’t matter how you live after that well it’s same God same Christ but again a very different response what the Bible calls for this is not true faith this is shallow faith this is false faith sham faith as Calvin would say and there’s no repentance mentioned there’s no change of mine that results in a change in action yeah it’s not the works that’s saved but there’s gonna be food of repentance so easy believe isn’t that is a false gospel or go to Mormonism well that just hits all the boxes different God a different Christ different understanding a man had a different response called for it I mean it is it is really out there you know I heard a surprising this is just a little tidbit but I listened to it something from James white the other day and he he said something surprising he said Islam is closer to Christianity than Mormonism is and that’s a true statement many these are these are those central elements that when you deviate when you get the fundamentals wrong in these areas you’ve got a false gospel but a lot of these false Gospels they spawn from a compromised understanding of Scripture this is something we’ve already seen in with the past lessons if scripture is denied altered or added to you usually get a false gospel because that’s what man wants to do he wants to change scripture so that he can make it the gospel something different so when someone denies that the Bible is God’s Word where if somebody adds his revelation to God’s Word that is a very bad sign I don’t know if I would say that that automatically makes a heresy maybe it does but certainly it’s a very very bad sign faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ so how can a person come to saving faith if you compromise that word the ultimate question of course is and all this do you believe the true gospel oh I trust that many of you hopefully all of you do who are listening today but I know the deceitfulness of sin this message is wonderful news of what God has accomplished in his love but are you a true beneficiary of it what what might keep you from repenting and believing this news what keeps you from following Christ and becoming a co inheritor with him in the kingdom that is to come is there a passing treasure of the world that you cling to is there some cherished sin habit that you don’t want to let go of it’s the thought of persecution too much for you and you say I just can’t I can’t do that are you believing in some other gospel that’s more palatable to your sinful heart listen what you heard today and you say you know I subscribe to most of that but I think I’m pretty good or I think everybody’s gonna be saved I think that there there are many gods that may be more palatable that may be more popular but that’s not what the Bible says the Bible is true but it is always a worthy exchange when you come to Christ when you repent and believe consider what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:8 Philippians 3:8 Paul says more than that I count all things to be loss and view the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish trash that I may gain Christ anything in this will it’s rubbish compared to just gaining Christ and Jesus says in mark 8:36 mark 8:36 for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul you were saying an evangelist you know I’ve definitely heard that also from from different sources but they’re basically only two religious in the world there’s the biblical true God God based religion and everything that man and the demons come up with and biblical religion the truth is that salvation is done the false religion is that you got to do to earn your salvation I think that’s actually in itself a little bit of an apologetic for Christianity you say look this is this is unique among everything that exists in the world and there’s a reason for that it’s because it’s true and it’s the thing that man would never come up with because he loves himself and he loves the sin God says no turn away from yourself and turn to me and you’ll be safe I have done it all for my own if you’re one of my own everything has already done for you so repent and believe Danny I saw your hand go up did you want to say something say that last word again okay any other questions or comments one thing I don’t I haven’t talked about in this lesson is how do you initiate a gospel conversation and there’s no one way to do that and you can share the gospel you can’t give the gospel to people you don’t know very well or people you just met I mean you can also give the gospel to people that you do know well and there are different challenges in each but you can simply create the opportunity you could simply say hey my friend I’d love to share with you the good news they said okay if I do that or you might say to someone you know well hey I’ve known you for a long time you know that I really love you but there’s something that I know is it’s true about you that that is it’s really concerning to me and I want to I want to see you freed from it I want to share with you the good news of the body you don’t have to use their specific lines but you can start that conversation that way or you can just make a comment as as you’re just going through life with those people around you you can make a comment about life from the perspective of the Bible you might say oh you know this election or like these people or I can’t believe how you know how how wicked that person was and you say oh you know what you’re so right that is so evil but did you know that the Bible says that that’s the way we all are despite what we show on the outside or someone says oh it’s such a nice day today and you say yeah you’re so right this is the grace of God to us and we don’t even deserve it now again they might they might think you’re a little bit weird for saying that or they might not pursue the conversation but it’s a way to see if they’re willing to talk if they’re willing to hear if you can give the message that’s gonna save them from sin from death from eternal death of course all of it has to be under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit you can’t force someone to be saved you can’t make them save you can’t come up with a persuasive argument that’s gonna surefire get them saved ask me the Lord working in the heart but he does use us as means we are the ordained means we’ve got to share the message we’ve got to give the message and that message as we’ve seen today includes both the bad news and the good news we are called as gods and bastards but you’re called as God’s followers to give a message to may God enable us may God lead us to do that that’s all we have time for today you have other questions about what we talked about definitely email me next week I would be doing something a little special I’m actually not gonna be with you next week I’m going on a retreat with my fellowship group here at Grace Community Church so we have Caleb Caleb Dagon all to do a special lesson with you that’s gonna review many of the things we’ve looked at in this first unit and then after that and the following week then I’ll be back with you our following time okay so let me close in a word of Prayer okay we thank you for the gospel we thank you Lord none of this none of your great compassion none of your redemptive plan was deserved by us we’d do nothing to to be saved it is all of you but we thank you for God you do dis display your justice your righteousness but also you mercy and thank you for thank you for pouring it out to the undeserving even us Oh God how can we ever ever thank you how can an appropriate way but Lord we love you we love you for what you’ve done so cause us God’s people to share this message with others to be bolds be obedient in this way so that they too can be saved we pray that you would work in the hearts of the people we know that people around us the people we meet so that they would be moved to hear it to consider it to repent and believe you have to do the work the god you use us so use us now that was not to be afraid it is always going to be a battle it’s always like that nervousness of going off a high dive or going on to the battlefield but to victory is yours what can man do to us when you’re on our side we praise you for that kind I prayed you bless the rest of the service of Calvary today in Jesus name all right thank you all see you again see